RISE - Menu Monitor

Wendy’s has announced the winners of its My Wendy’s High School Heisman Moment contest. Briggs Orsbon of Convoy, OH,
and Lauren Phipps of St. Louis will each receive a grand prize of an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to attend Wendy’s
High School Heisman Weekend, plus a $250 gift card. The two winners were selected from a pool of entrants who submitted
videos to Wendysheisman.com and tackle.com. The videos showcased the students’ favorite or best high school sports
moments. The entrants were subjected to a public vote, with the top 15 vote-getters then judged by a Wendy’s panel. The 13
other finalists will each receive a $100 Wendy’s gift card. (Yahoo! Finance 11/15/07)
Menu Development |
Wendy’s fat content is being called into question after recent tests found that large servings of Wendy’s fries allegedly
contained about 2.5 grams of trans-fat, according to Consumer Reports. The company recently announced that it was
planning to reduce the trans fat content in a large order of fries to 0.5 grams from 7 grams. Wendy’s said that it plans to test
the items that were found to have contained the higher amount of trans fats. (Wall Street Journal 11/03/06; NRN Daily
NewsFax 11/03/06)
Wendy’s introduced its Cranberry Pecan Salad. The salad features fresh lettuce, Mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, allwhite
meat chicken, pecans and berry balsamic vinaigrette. (Company Release 1/5/07)
Wendy’s International Inc. will roll out a breakfast menu to 20% to 30% of its domestic units this year. The chain has been
testing the breakfast menu in select regional markets. The company also announced plans to launch 10 new products this
year and sell at least 50 company-owned restaurants. Wendy’s expects to invest up to $110 million in restaurant renovations
this year. (NRN Daily NewsFax 2/06/07; The Wall Street Journal 2/05/07; Columbus Business First 2/09/07)
Wendy’s introduced the Chunky Chicken Salad Frescata to its Frescata sandwich line. It includes all white chicken meat with
celery, onions and green peppers in a Dijon sauce, served on artisan bread with tomato and romaine lettuce. The sandwich is
priced at $3.49, or $4.99 as part of a combo meal. (Company Release 3/27/07; NRN Daily NewsFax 3/28/07)
Wendy’s added a 4-Alarm Spicy Chicken sandwich, a variation of its Spicy Chicken sandwich. The sandwich consists of a
deep-fried chicken breast topped with pepper Jack cheese, chipotle sauce, jalapeño pepper slices, lettuce and tomato served
on the bread that is used for Wendy’s Frescata deli line. It is priced at $3.99, or $5.69 as part of a combo meal. (NRN Daily
NewsFax 3/09/07)
Wendy’s added the Vanilla Frosty Float to its Frosty lineup. The drink allows customers to choose from Coca-Cola, Barq’s root
beer or another soft drink and combine it with the Frosty mix. A 20-oz version is priced at $1.99. The chain also added Custom
Bean by Folgers Gourmet Selections to its breakfast menu. Wendy’s plans to roll out its breakfast menu to 20%–30% of its
North American outlets by year’s end. (Company Promo 5/18/07 & 5/21/07)
Wendy’s Buffalo Crispy Chicken Sandwich is being introduced this week on the Super Value menu. The sandwich is made
with all-white meat chicken and will be available for a limited time through June. The sandwich is priced at 99¢. (Company
Release 5/9/07)
Wendy’s will offer an exclusive a blend of coffee, Wendy’s Custom Bean by Folgers Gourmet Selections. The coffee will be
included in a new breakfast menu and will be available throughout the day at Wendy’s locations that serve breakfast. The
chain will brew the coffee using Procter & Gamble’s custom brewing technology. (Bizjournals.com 5/18/07)
Wendy’s introduced its new Vanilla Frosty Float. The Frosty float combines the traditional Frosty with a choice of soda. The
item is being promoted with a Nintendo Wii video game system giveaway. Each Vanilla Frosty Float cup comes with a special
code that gives customers a chance to instantly win one of 800 Wii systems, 800 Wii games or 800 Wii Points cards that can
be redeemed to download classic Nintendo games from the Wii Shop Channel. The promotion will continue until June 30.
(Company Release 5/21/07)
Wendy’s has expanded its test of new breakfast items by another 75 stores. There are currently 235 restaurants participating
in the test of new breakfast sandwiches, burritos, cinnamon rolls and regional specialties. Wendy’s will continue to add test
stores this summer, totaling 650 test stores by the end of August and 30% of its North American system by the end of the
calendar year. New breakfast items are accompanied by a new premium coffee blend, Wendy’s Custom Bean by Folgers
Gourmet Selections. (NRN.com 6/27/07)
Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill and Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers launched contests that asked customers to
create a new burger that would be available on their menus for a limited time. Other restaurants such as Red Robin and Dairy
Queen are using this contest technique, indicating that this could be the beginning of a marketing trend. (Nation’s Restaurant
News 7/3/07 p1)
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